Sunday, August 12, 2012

John Forrest Parker

Executed June 10, 2010 06:41 p.m. by Lethal Injection in Alabama

Summary:
Charles Sennett was a minister in financial trouble and weary of his
marriage to his recently insured wife, Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett. He
contracted with one of his tenants, Billy Gray Williams, to murder his
wife for $3000. Williams, in turn, hired John Parker and Kenneth Eugene
Smith for $1000 each to commit the murder. Williams gave Parker $100 to
purchase a weapon. Parker drove his vehicle to the Sennetts’ residence
while Smith, who was in the passenger seat, sharpened Parker’s
survival knife. Parker parked his car behind the Sennetts’ home, told
Dorlene that her husband had given them permission to look at the
property as a hunting site and, upon receiving Dorlene’s approval,
walked into a wooded area with Smith. They later returned to the house
and received permission from Dorlene to use her bathroom. While in the
bathroom, Parker put cotton socks onto his hands. He then exited the
bathroom, jumped Dorlene, and began hitting her. Parker and Smith hit
Dorlene with a galvanized pipe and stabbed her while she pled with them
not to hurt her. Consistent with their plan, they broke the glass in
the medicine cabinet and took a stereo and video cassette recorder
(VCR) to make the assault look like it was done during a burglary.

Parker
and Smith were both convicted of capital murder. Although the jury
returned a verdict of life without parole for Parker, the trial judge
sentenced him to death. Smith is still awaiting an execution date to be
set. Williams is serving a life sentence without parole for his
capital murder conviction. A week after becoming a suspect in the case,
the victim’s husband committed suicide.

Final/Special Meal:
Fried fish, french fries and iced tea.

Final Words:
“I’m sorry. I don’t ever expect you to forgive me. I really am sorry.”

Parker,
42, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die for the
killing of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, a 45-year-old grandmother who was
stabbed repeatedly and beaten with a pipe at her Colbert County home.
Prosecutors said Parker was one of two men paid $1,000 each by a third
man on behalf of her husband, the Rev. Charles Sennett, who was deeply
in debt and wanted to collect on insurance. He committed suicide one
week after his wife’s slaying.

Parker
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday after the Alabama
Supreme Court voted 7-2 to reject his plea for a stay. Shortly before
the scheduled execution time of 6 p.m. Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court
rejected in appeal. In the appeal, Parker’s attorneys challenged the
constitutionality of an Alabama law that allowed the trial judge to
override the jury’s recommendation that Parker be sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of parole.

The
Alabama Attorney General’s Office filed a response Thursday saying
Parker had raised the override argument earlier in his appeal. They
said that it was rejected by courts and that the trial judge
sufficiently considered the jury’s recommendation before sentencing
Parker to death.

Parker
was moved earlier this week into a holding cell just a few steps from
the death chamber where he is to be strapped to a gurney and receive
the lethal injection. He spent most of Thursday meeting with friends
and family members, including his mother, Joan Parker, and his father,
Edward Parker. Friend Carolyn Watson and two religious advisers from
the Kairos prison ministry, Ben Sherrod and Taylor Perry, were to
witness the execution.

Washington
– Convicted murderer John Forrest Parker was executed Thursday in the
US state of Alabama for the 1988 contract killing of a pastor’s wife, a
prison official said. Parker, 42, died by lethal injection at 18:41
(23:41 GMT) for the killing of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, Alabama
prison authority spokesperson Brian Corbett said. “I’m sorry. I don’t
ever expect you to forgive me,” Parker told the woman’s family shortly
before dying. “I really am sorry.”

Parker
was 19 when he and an accomplice accepted a proposal by a pastor to
kill his wife, a 45-year-old grandmother, for money. Sennett was
stabbed and beaten to death. Her debt-ridden husband had taken out a
life insurance policy on behalf of his wife shortly before recruiting
Parker and a friend to kill her. The husband committed suicide a few
days after the killing.

After
his trial, a jury convicted Parker of capital murder and sentenced him
to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. But the judge
overruled the jury’s punishment and sentenced him to death, his lawyers
said in a statement.

Among
the 35 US states that employ the death penalty, Alabama is one of three
that allow judges to override the verdict of a jury. This was the
second execution of the year in Alabama and the 27th overall in the
United States in 2010.

“Parker
put to death,” by Tom Smith. (Friday, June 11, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.)
“Charles Sennett said death is not easy for anybody, right or wrong. His
comments came Thursday just minutes after he witnessed the execution
of John Forrest Parker, the man convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire
death of Sennett’s mother, a Colbert County minister’s wife. Sennett
and his brother, Michael, were at Holman Prison and watched Parker, 42,
die from lethal injection.

Alabama
corrections authorities said Parker was executed at 6:41 p.m. He is the
first Shoals resident to die by lethal injection since it began in
1927.

Before
the execution, Parker told the Sennett family he was sorry for what he
did. “I’m sorry; I don’t ever expect you to forgive me. I really am
sorry,” Parker said just minutes before the execution process began.
Parker, a Florence resident at the time, was convicted of capital murder
June 6, 1989.

Attorneys
at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery who were representing
Parker tried to get the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution.
Corrections officials said the request was rejected a few minutes
before the execution was scheduled to begin. Sennett said his family
was told Gov. Bob Riley called the prison about 1 p.m. Thursday to
inform corrections officials that he would not stop the execution.

Elizabeth
Sennett, 45, died March 18, 1988, at Helen Keller Hospital in
Sheffield after she was brutally beaten and stabbed at her home on Coon
Dog Cemetery Road in Colbert County. Parker, along with Kenneth
Eugene Smith and Bill Gray Williams, both also of Florence, are accused
of being paid $1,000 each to kill Elizabeth Sennett. Authorities say
Sennett’s husband, who was a minister at Westside Church of Christ in
Sheffield at the time, contracted Williams to kill his wife for $3,000.
According to court documents, Williams paid Smith and Parker $1,000
each to commit the murder.

Smith
and Parker were both convicted of capital murder and sentenced to
death. Smith is still awaiting an execution date to be set. Williams
is serving a life sentence without parole for his capital murder
conviction. A week after becoming a suspect in the case, the victim’s
husband, also named Charles Sennett, shot and killed himself in his
son’s backyard.

“This is
one of the steps we have to take to get closure and justice,” Sennett
said after the execution. “We still have another step with Smith, but
tonight was a step in the right direction.” Colbert County Sheriff
Ronnie May, who was the lead investigator on the murder case, said he
has continued to stay in touch with the victim’s sons through the
years. “I know they want to start the closure process, and I hope this
does it for them,” May said after learning of Parker’s execution.

Sennett
said he and his brother still have unanswered questions. “Why this
happened,” said Sennett, who was 25 and married with two children when
his mother was killed. “Daddy took the answers to his grave and so are
these boys (Parker and Smith).” Officials who investigated the murder
said the underlying motive was that the husband was trying to get out
of his marriage and that he was heavily in debt. “This was a
devastating a situation on these two boys,” May said. “To lose your mom
in this fashion and then learn that your father orchestrated the
entire thing and then he took his own life before he could be punished.
“I feel for these two boys and their families, as well as the Parker
family.”

Sennett
said he and his brother met with Parker’s mother and father Thursday
morning in Atmore. “They were remorseful for what their son did,”
Sennett said. “We never hated them. They can’t do anything about what
their son did. We know they’re hurting. “The Parker family is a victim
to a point and our hearts go out to them.”

Testimony
at trial indicated Elizabeth Sennett was stabbed multiple times to the
right side of her chest, the right side of her back, the base of her
neck, forehead, nose and scalp and sustained contusions on her nose and
forehead. Records indicate Parker and Smith are accused of hitting the
victim with a galvanized pipe and then stabbing her while she pleaded
with them not to hurt her.

Sennett
said his family wishes to express their sympathy to the Parker family
and hope they find a way to deal with their loss. “We know what it is
to lose a loved one,” Sennett said. “The only difference today is that
John Parker had 22 years to say goodbye. We did not have that chance to
say goodbye to our mom. It is a bittersweet day for both sides.”

He said
the Parker family will need the support of family and friends, just as
his family has had for 22 years. “As for the death of John Parker, the
pain he did not feel today does not compare to that he inflicted on our
mother 22 years ago,” Sennett said. “We would like to thank all of
our family and friends for the prayers and calls that we have received
this week and the last 22 years. Without the support of family and
friends, we couldn’t make it through. “Now, this part of it is over.”

A man
convicted of murdering a Colbert County woman more than two decades ago
was put to death at 6:41p.m. Thursday at Holman Prison in Atmore. John
Forrest Parker was the first Shoals man to be executed by lethal
injection in the state. Parker was convicted in the 1988 contract
killing of Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, who was stabbed to death in her
home.

Thursday,
Parker’s attorneys asked the US Supreme court for a last minute stay
to halt the execution. That request was countered by the Alabama
Attorney General’s Office, who filed papers opposing the stay.

Before
he served as the Colbert County Sheriff, Ronnie May was the lead
investigator in this case. May says he has spoken to Sennett’s family
recently and hopes the execution will bring them some closure.

Just
over 22 years ago, authorities found 45 year old Elizabeth Sennett’s in
her Cherokee home on Coon Dog Cemetery Road. Officials say Parker was
hired, along with two other men, to kill her. The state claimed
Sennett’s husband, Charles Sennett, a minister at the West Side Church
of Christ in Sheffield was part of the crime. “It was a very cruel and
brutal decision made by one man to have his wife killed in a very
brutal fashion,” said May. “I guess that’s what I keep thinking about
is the impact that it’s had on the sons and the family.”

According
to May, Parker beat Sennett with an iron rod and then repeatedly
stabbed her to death in her home. Afterwards, authorities say they
disposed of the weapon in a pond next to the home. May hopes, after
all this time, that Parker’s execution will bring the family some
relief. “I know what they’ve had to go through,” said May. “This
hopefully will bring some closure for them so they at least feel like
some form of justice has been done because of what was done to Mrs.
Sennett.”

In March
1988, Charles Sennett contracted with one of his tenants, Billy Gray
Williams, to murder his wife, Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett, for $3000.
Williams, in turn, hired John Parker and Kenneth Eugene Smith for $1000
each to commit the murder. Williams gave Parker $100 to purchase a
weapon on 17 March 1988, and promised to pay him the balance when the
job was completed. Instead of buying a weapon, Parker used the $100 for
drugs and injected 3 cubic centimeters of Talwin, a narcotic analgesic
(painkiller), while en route to the Sennetts’ residence on 18 March.

Parker
drove his vehicle to the Sennetts’ residence while Smith, who was in
the passenger seat, sharpened Parker’s survival knife. Parker parked
his car behind the Sennetts’ home, told Dorlene that her husband had
given them permission to look at the property as a hunting site and,
upon receiving Dorlene’s approval, walked into a wooded area with
Smith. They later returned to the house and received permission from
Dorlene to use her bathroom. While in the bathroom, Parker put cotton
socks onto his hands. He then exited the bathroom, jumped Dorlene, and
began hitting her. Parker and Smith hit Dorlene with a galvanized pipe
and stabbed her while she pled with them not to hurt her.

Consistent
with their plan, they broke the glass in the medicine cabinet and took
a stereo and video cassette recorder (VCR) to make the assault look
like it was done during a burglary. Parker later burned his clothes and
threw the stereo off a bridge, and he and Smith threw away the knife
that they used. Parker subsequently received the additional $900 for
the murder.

When
Sennett arrived home, he found his house ransacked and Dorlene close to
death, and called Colbert County Sheriff’s Investigator Ronnie May at
11:44 A.M. May dispatched a rescue squad and sheriff’s deputies to the
Sennetts’ home. May and another deputy arrived at the Sennetts’ home
about 12:05 P.M., and the rescue squad arrived soon thereafter. Dorlene
was transported to the hospital, and seen by Dr. David Parks McKinley.
Resuscitation efforts failed and Dorlene was declared dead as a result
of cardiac arrest and exsanguination. An examination of her body
revealed multiple stab wounds to the right side of her chest, the right
side of her neck, the base of her neck, forehead, nose, and scalp, and
contusions on her nose and forehead.

Hairs
found at the crime scene in a cap located near Dorlene’s body were
consistent with Smith’s known hair sample, and on an afghan that had
been wrapped around Dorlene’s body were consistent with fibers later
taken from Parker’s knife. The VCR taken from the Sennetts’ house was
found inside Smith’s residence.

In April
1988, Parker was indicted for the capital murder of Dorlene by beating
and stabbing her with a knife for the pecuniary consideration of
$1000. At trial, he was found guilty by a jury; the jury recommended a
sentence of life imprisonment without parole. The judge, however,
overrode the jury and sentenced Parker to death on 21 June 1989.
Charles Sennett, a Church of Christ minister, committed suicide on 25
March 1988, seven days after Dorlene died. Williams was convicted of
capital murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole. Smith was convicted of capital murder and
sentenced to death.

UPDATE:
John Forrest Parker, executed for the 1988 murder of Elizabeth Dorlene
Sennett, told the woman’s family, “I’m sorry, I don’t ever expect you
to forgive me. I really am sorry” moments before he died by lethal
injection at Holman Prison in Atmore.